Pushing her plate to the side, she laid the bundle before her and gently unwrapped it. The polished wood handles of her set of brushes gleamed dully under the overhead fluorescent lights. Licking her finger, she nudged a bent bristle on one of the brushes back into place.
Dax leaned close. “Even if it is yours, you don’t go around flashing that much cash. Especially in a place like this.” He glared at the table to their right, as if he knew what the couple was thinking and their thoughts were felonious. “Christ, you left it just hanging off the back of your chair when you were dancing.”
“And no one took it.” With neat movements, she rolled up her treasured brushes and tucked them away. “You really need to learn to relax. Being so uptight can’t be healthy for your blood pressure. Learn to live a little. Have some fun.”
He gripped the back of his neck. “I am not uptight,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Well, you aren’t a barrel of laughs either.” She shot off a quick text to her mom, telling her the news. She didn’t expect a response tonight, but she placed her phone on the table in front of her, just in case.
The waitress stopped by with a black billfold. Lissa took it and pulled out the long tail of the receipt. Her eyes widened at the total at the bottom, but what the hell. She could afford it, even after paying tuition. Plus someplace to stay for the six weeks until her classes started. And a first-class ticket to take her there.
Digging in her bag, she pulled several hundred-dollar bills from a banded stack. She tossed them down on the table and pounded back the last of her beer. She held the empty glass up to Dax. “Slainte!”
He dipped his chin and sighed.
“What? You’re Irish, aren’t you?”
Wiping his hands on his napkin, he shook his head. “Of Scottish heritage actually. But people normally toast before they drink, not after they finish.”
She placed her elbows on the table and leaned forward. “That’s one thing you’re going to learn about me, Dax. I don’t like to do things the normal way.”
“Yeah, I think I got that,” he muttered.
Her phone buzzed and she looked down, her breath catching. Her shoulders slumped. Not her mom. Just another threat from Morris. If she didn’t return the money right away, blah, blah, blah. He was going to hunt her down, blah, blah, blah.
Standing, she shoved her phone into her back pocket. “Do you want to go to some real clubs to dance? Memphis should have some good live music.”
Dax laid a bill for his own meal on the table, even though she’d paid enough for his, too. “I can’t. I have work I need to get to.”
“Work?” Threading her arm through his, she led him out the swinging front door of the bar and onto the sidewalk. Blues music spilled from a club a couple of doors down and something with a harder beat pulsed from a bar with blacked-out windows on the corner. “How can you work when there’s so much to see and do?” She shook her head. Working on a sultry Memphis night? Really. The man was too tedious. He needed her to get him to lighten up.
He looked wistfully down the street but shook his head. “Nah. I’ve got something I need to do for tomorrow.”
Lissa raised an eyebrow. “Give the dogs a bath so they’re all shiny and pretty for their new homes?”
“No, they get cleaned up at Forever Friends, smart-ass.” He checked his watch. “But I have something I need to prepare for tomorr—” He stopped and dropped his head. “Crap. I need to take the dogs out again. I won’t have time to get my work done.”
“You took them out when we got here. It didn’t take you all that long.” She tossed a glance back at the blues club but let Dax lead her across the street to the motel.
“And that walk was a complete disaster. Those eight dogs can’t be walked together again.” He pulled his plastic key from his back pocket and stood before his door, tapping it on his other fingers. “They all want to go in different directions. We didn’t make it five feet without the leashes getting tangled.”
Lissa prodded him toward his door. “Look, I’ll take the dogs out before I go clubbing. You get your work done and then come join me.”
He opened the door, using his legs to block the swarm of dogs trying to make their escape. “Would you? That would be a big help.”
“No problema.” She gathered the leashes.
“Lock your backpack in your room first.” He rested his hands on his hips. “I won’t have you walking around with ten thousand dollars in cash, even with the dogs as protection.”
Fifty thousand, but Dax didn’t need to know that. It would probably just make him grumpier. She gave him a pert salute and marched to the door. “Yes, sir. I’ll be right back, sir.”
“Smart-ass,” he muttered as he turned away. But Lissa could have sworn she saw his lips curve up.
She hurried to her room and tossed the backpack on her bed. Then she strode to the connecting door and opened her side. She knocked on Dax’s. “Permission to enter?” she asked when he swung it open.
The black-and-white Bluetick hurtled past her and explored the new room, sniffing every corner.
“Watch out for that one especially.” Dax handed her a leash, then snagged another dog as he trotted past and put a leash on his collar, too. “Two at a time is probably the limit with this group.” He peeked inside her room and frowned when his gaze landed on the backpack. “Do you have a safe in here? There isn’t one in my room.”
“Not in this one either, but it will be fine.” She whistled, and the Bluetick bounded over to her, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
“Well, I think we should sleep with the connecting door open, just to be safe.”
Lissa paused at her door, the leashes in her hand. “Safe? Is that how Boy Scouts seduce women?” she teased. “Those that sleep together, stay safe together?”
A dull flush crept its way from his neck up his face. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants. Or one set of the pockets. The cargos had pouches springing out everywhere, from his calves, to his thighs and hips and even around on his cute tush. Not that Lissa had been looking. What all could a man carry to necessitate all those pockets?
“I just meant I want to be able to get to you quickly. In case someone tries to break in.” He blew out his cheeks with a heavy breath. “That is, if you trust me. I’d understand if you want to keep the door between us locked.”
A corgi stood up on his hind legs and put his paws on Dax’s knee. He bent over to scratch behind the dog’s ears, the gesture automatic. Sweet.
Lissa blinked. “I trust you, Dax.” Some people Lissa had a harder time reading, like Morris. She never would have pegged him as a crook. He’d sold her so many bills of goods, she’d lost count. But Dax was an open book. He was one of those rare good guys, of that there was no doubt. He was probably so wholesome he wouldn’t ever consider climbing into her bed at night, even if she handed him an engraved invitation.
A tiny pit opened in her heart. Why was it that men like him and women like her never suited? Any of her artist friends she’d been attracted to had put themselves and their work first. Which she understood. She was the same after all. But men who were considerate, who were caretakers, ended up trying to stifle her. Someone like Dax wouldn’t be able to tolerate her quirks for long. He’d known her for all of one afternoon and he was already exasperated by her antics.
That didn’t leave her many dating options. She rubbed her breastbone with the knuckle of her thumb.
But maybe, if she was going to stick around his Pineville for six weeks, maybe she could be friends with his type. She could show him how to relax and have fun.
A